Editing Gary Glitter

{{Mature}}{{Important}}{{Villain_Infobox
|Box title = Gary Glitter
|image = G_G.jpg
|fullname = Paul Francis Gadd|alias = Gary Glitter<br>Paul Raven<br>Rubber Bucket<br>Paul Monday<br>Paul Russell|occupation = Musician<br>Singer-songwriter
|skills = Singing<br>Guitar|hobby = Performing glam rock<br>Looking at [[Child Pornography|child pornography]]|goals = To be released from prison (ongoing)<br>To finish his incomplete album (ongoing)|type of villain = Remorseful [[Pedophilia|Pedophile]]|crimes = Possesion of child pornography<br>Child sexual abuse<br>Attempted [[rape]]<br>[[Pedophilia]]}}

'''Paul Francis Gadd''' (born 8 May 1944), known professionally as '''Gary Glitter''', is an English former glam rock singer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s. His career ended after he was imprisoned for downloading [[child pornography]] in 1999, and was subsequently convicted of child sexual abuse and attempted rape, in 2006 and 2015, respectively.

After performing under the name Paul Raven in the 1960s, he changed his stage name to Gary Glitter in the glam rock era of the early 1970s, with a sustained solo UK chart run of hits including "Rock and Roll, Parts 1 and 2", "Do You Wanna Touch Me", "I Love You Love Me Love", "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)", and "Hello, Hello, I'm Back Again". He became known for his extreme glam image of glitter suits, make-up and platform boots, and his energetic live performances. He sold over 20 million records, had 26 hit singles which spent a total of 180 weeks in the UK Singles Chart; twelve reaching the Top 10, with three charting at number-one. He is listed in the Top 100 UK most successful chart acts. Glitter's popularity waned in the late 1970s, followed by a successful comeback as a solo artist again from the 1980s. His 1984 song "Another Rock and Roll Christmas" is one of the most played Christmas hits of all time.In 1998, his recording of "Rock and Roll" was listed as one of the top 1,001 songs in music history. Glitter also released seven studio albums, and at least fifteen compilation or live albums.

The BBC described Glitter's fall from grace as "dramatic" and "spectacular". The late 1990s saw his image become irreparably tarnished, following his 1997 arrest and 1999 conviction and imprisonment in the United Kingdom for downloading thousands of items of child pornography. He was also charged at the same time, but acquitted, of sexual activity with an underage girl in the 1970s. Later, Glitter faced criminal charges and deportation from several countries in connection with actual and suspected child sexual abuse. He was deported from Cambodia on suspected child sexual abuse charges in 2002. After he settled in Vietnam, a Vietnamese court found him guilty of obscene acts with minors in 2006. After serving his sentence, Glitter was deported back to the UK where he was placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life. In October 2012, he was arrested again as part of Operation Yewtree. He was released on bail, but was eventually charged, in June 2014, with historical child sex offences. On 5 February 2015, he was found guilty of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault, and one of having sex with a girl under the age of 13 between 1975 and 1980. On 27 February 2015, he was sentenced to a total of 16 years in prison.

== Music career ==
Gary Glitter emerged on the U.K. scene in 1972, although he had been touring and recording for over a decade beforehand. Still in his mid-teens, the young Paul Gadd performed at the legendary 2 I's Coffee Bar in London's Soho district, moving onto the Laconda and the Safari clubs before his repertoire of rock & roll classics and sweetly executed ballads brought him to the attention of Robert Hartford Davis, a small-time movie producer looking to break into the music industry. He financed the teenager's first recording session and landed him a deal with Decca, who released "Alone in the Night" in January, 1960, under the first of the multitude of pseudonyms which the singer would utilize through the remainder of the decade, Paul Raven. 

In 1961, new manager Vic Billings landed Raven a deal with Parlophone and producer George Martin. Two singles, "Walk on Boy" and "Tower of Strength," followed, but neither sold well and by 1964, Ravenwas working as a studio warm-up man for the cult television show Ready Steady Go. He also appeared in a handful of television commercials and auditioned unsuccessfully for the lead role in the movie Privilege (Paul Jones ultimately took the part). It was a meeting with producer/arranger Mike Leanderwhich marked the turning point in Raven's fortunes. The singer joined Leander's eponymous Show Band in April, 1965; Leander also arranged for his young protégé to oversee a handful of recording sessions, producing singles by Thane Russell and Scottish beat band the Poets. 

The Mike Leander Show Band collapsed in late 1965 and Raven formed a new group, Boston International (later truncated to the Bostons), with saxophonist John Rossall. They spent much of the next five years touring Germany, the schedule interrupted by occasional recording dates back in England with Leander. Between 1968-1970, "Musical Man" and a cover of George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun" were issued under the name Paul Monday. "Soul Thing" and Sly Stone's "Stand" returned Paul Raven to the racks and "We're All Living in One Place" debuted Rubber Bucket and, though the records themselves flopped, the sound was slowly crystallizing. By late 1971, with the glam rock movement now exploding across the U.K., Leander and Raven were convinced they had finally found the elusive formula they had been searching for. 

"Rock and Roll" first took shape as a 15-minute jam session before Leander edited it down into two three-minute gems, sensibly subtitled "Part One" and "Part Two." Next came the matter of a new name for the performer -- according to legend, Raven's first instinct was Vicki Vomit, followed by Terry Tinsel, Stanley Sparkle, or Horace Hydrogen, working backwards through the alphabet, Gary Glitter was simply the next alliteration he thought of. And this time, it stuck.

Despite a slow start (it took six months to break into the U.K. chart) "Rock & Roll," of course, became one of the biggest hits of 1972 and one of the most unique. A number two in the U.K. and Top Ten in America, it set Glitter up for a period of almost unassailable chart domination, as a string of barely disguised sound-alikes flew from his and Leander's pens, unerringly affixing themselves on the British Top Ten: "I Didn't Know I Loved You (Till I Saw You Rock and Roll)," "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)," and "Hello Hello, I'm Back Again" all charted during the next 12 months. Two albums, Glitter and Touch Me, were no less successful, while Glitter's first ever London concert in spring, 1973, saw him sell out the London Palladium, one of the first rock & rollers ever to play that venerable old pile. 

Glitter lived up to his image with a vengeance. He poured a fortune into his wardrobe -- at one point he owned 30 glitter suits and 50 pairs of monstrous silver platform boots. But it was worth it. Glittermania was breaking out everywhere. "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)" became his first British chart-topper in the summer of 1973, "I Love You Love Me Love" repeated the success that fall, while "Remember Me This Way," a brass-led ballad which had absolutely nothing in common with the Glitter sound, reached number three. A show at the London Rainbow was recorded for a live album (also titled Remember Me This Way). Glitter's backing band, the aptly named Glitter Band, were launched on a parallel hitmaking career of their own and while attempts to follow up the original American success were less well-starred, "Leader of the Gang" did at least breach the Top 50, in the capable hands of Brownsville Station.

"Always Yours" gave Glitter his eighth successive hit and third number one, in June, 1974; another ballad, "Oh Yes! You're Beautiful" reached number two, the insistent "Love Like You and Me" made number ten, and "Doing Alright With the Boys" hit number six in summer, 1975. And suddenly, it was all over. Glitter's next single, a cover of "Papa Ooh Mow Mow," stalled at #38 and, with successive releases proving similarly catastrophic, the singer announced his retirement in early 1976.

For the next year, Glitter existed in a twilight world of rumor alone, as financial and psychological pressures pushed him to the brink. He was drinking heavily and later admitted that he seriously contemplated suicide. A half-hearted return to action saw him take the lead role in a New Zealand production of The Rocky Horror Show and score a pair of minor U.K. Top 30 hits during 1977, "It Takes All Night Long" and "A Little Boogie Woogie in the Back of My Mind." But it was 1980 before he truly began to come out his shell again, launching a series of low-key concerts for a post-punk audience which had, somewhat curiously, embraced him as a figurehead of sorts. In 1981, he returned to the studio and recorded a new single, a dance medley of all his greatest hits, "All That Glitters." By 1984, he was playing upwards of 80 gigs a year, mainly around the college and club circuit, and returned to the chart with "Dance Me Up" and "Another Rock and Roll Christmas." 

Two years later, Doctor & the Medics invited him to guest with them on TV performances of their decidedly Glitter-esque reworking of "Spirit in the Sky." And in 1988, Glitter was back at number one, courtesy of the Timelords' "Doctoring the Tardis" a tribute to television's Dr Who set to samples of Glitter's "Rock and Roll." Glitter himself subsequently re-recorded "Rock and Roll" with producer Trevor Horn and only narrowly missed out on another hit.

Ever more extravagant live shows were celebrated with the 1988 live video Gary Glitter's Gangshow, while his back catalog began spawning a succession of still more adventurous hit compilations. He became the subject of a successful London stage show, while his 1991 autobiography, The Leader, was a major bestseller. In 1994, Glitter was one of the stars at the official World [soccer] Cup concert in Chicago, broadcast live to 46 countries. He returned to the U.S. in 1996, playing the Godfather in the Who's Quadrophenia revival and he found time to deliver a new single, the definitive reading of "The House of the Rising Sun" set to the most heart-stopping Glitter beat yet. "Rock and Roll" even claimed another new lease on life when it became one of the star turns in the movie The Full Monty.

==First arrest==
Gary Glitter was due to make a cameo in the film ''Spice World ''(1997), but his scene was cut when, shortly before the film's release, he was revealed to have possessed child pornography. He was subsequently arrested. This heavily damaged his career and led to him becoming widely hated, especially by former fans.

==Second arrest and future==
Glitter was arrested yet again in 2014 for child sexual abuse, but was bailed and placed back into jail. He was kept there even longer when in 2015, he was found guilty of attempting rape on a minor. This resulted in a 16-year sentence which is still in effect to this day.

Glitter has said before that he, when released, wants to make another album. He told The Daily Telegraph in 2008:

<blockquote>{{Quote|I have an incomplete album that I want to finish. I have been thinking

about the plan during my days in jail. I have sung rock 'n' roll for 40

years. After jail, I will continue to rock 'n' roll.|Gary planning to finish his album|}}</blockquote>

Glitter's release will likely be around 2031 or 2032, but a release date has not yet been specified as of 2016.

On January 28th, 2015<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11374121/Gary-Glitter-sobs-in-court-as-he-describes-losing-his-dignity-over-child-porn-images.html</ref>, an article was uploaded onto Telegraph.co.uk, claiming that he tried to issue a public apology regarding his past crimes.

<blockquote>{{Quote|I was in a very bad place in my life at that time and I had a lot of very serious decisions to make about my future. By the time I had taken my computer to PC World, I then had other allegations come in so the lawyers' fees and the lawyers' bills were tremendous. And I also missed my girlfriend who lived in Cuba. I couldn't get her out of Cuba. I still can't get her out of Cuba. I was drinking heavily, I was doing drugs, and the other thing of course is that I had to find this money to pay for the legal costs and studio, and I was asked by my management to seriously do the one thing which was absolutely terrible - which was to sell my songs to Universal Pictures, and I regret it. I was just in a bad place. I went to prison, I came out. I was remorseful and I am remorseful. I am so sorry. It changed my life forever. I lost my honor, I lost my family. It has to stop, all this internet pornography of children. It has to stop, no doubt about, no doubt about. I was abused as a child so maybe I was trying to work my own feelings out. Today it would not happen, I have no interest in looking at that awful porn now. Absolutely no interest at all, it has destroyed my life, it has destroyed my family's life and it has most likely destroyed all those poor victims' lives - I have total empathy for those poor children.|Gary admitting his actions|}}</blockquote>

Gary has also claimed that during his arrest, he was "in a bad place," and claims to have gone through sexual abuse as a child. He even confessed that he had no sexual interest in children. It is undefined whether or not any of this is the truth.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Gary Glitter - TopPop 1974 5.png
</gallery>

== External links ==
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11374121/Gary-Glitter-sobs-in-court-as-he-describes-losing-his-dignity-over-child-porn-images.html Glitter's Telegraph.co.uk interview]
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